Are NPCs conspiring to murder GTAO players?

The world of Grand Theft Auto Online has never been one of peace and safety, but as of late, it appears that the game is more dangerous than ever to its inhabitants. Players have been increasingly complaining about the erratic and damaging driving that computer-controlled cars are doing in the game, going so far as to suggest that there’s a deliberate conspiracy to target users of the game.

A piece on Kotaku walks through the problem, pointing out how many players are recording footage of NPC cars suddenly swerving to collide and crash with player cars even when the player is driving normally. The discussion in the community points to the Bikers update as when the problem started really becoming noticeable, although opinions differ as to why computer cars are now operating as if they have angry three-year-olds at the wheel.

Some theories include bugs in the code, paranoia on the part of players, or even a nasty scheme on the part of Rockstar to drain money from the economy (via car damage) and thereby encouraging the community to buy in-game cash for real money.

We noticed, but didn’t know it was a thing? We just play. Interesting. Wasn’t costing us more either???? We found we had to be much more on your toes is all.
tbh overall we thought they did some tweaking, and we found it loads more fun in the “anything can happen” department.

I can’t be the only one reading this who remembers similar traffic insanity in Grand Theft Auto IV, can I?

I remember getting side-swiped and t-boned in traffic during GTA4 so often some days that I literally jumped out of my vehicle (if I survived) and shot at NPC drivers. And I am not normally a rage-y gamer.

My point being, I don’t think this is a new phenomenon Kotaku is highlighting — NPC traffic is complex to model, and the more complex the coding, the more likely it will find unforeseen ways to trip over itself.

NO you are not. In fact, I think I remember this going as far back as Vice City (though I definitely remember it more vividly in IV and V). This isn’t new but it is annoying as hell and always has been. I’ve just always assumed it was part of the game. I’ll do backflips if they actually “fix” this.

Out of all the gifs in the Kotaku article this one stuck out to me the most as it was pretty different than the other ones just involving erratic AI driving hahaha! The car just kind of blinks sideways out of nowhere.

I’m unwilling to take a stance on whether it’s purposeful coding or really just bugs in their AI, but either way Rockstar should probably address the problem as it’s obviously leading to discontent.

“Some theories include…a nasty scheme on the part of Rockstar to drain money from the economy (via car damage) and thereby encouraging the community to buy in-game cash for real money.”

So that one isn’t as paranoid as it sounds. Companies do a lot of sneaky things to get people to spend more money. Numerous games that sell characters purposely sell new ones overpowered to get many people to spend money on them while 100% planning to nerf them soon after the sales die down. Although most companies won’t admit it, some actually have.

There are lots of sneaky little things companies do on the edge of shady to get people to spend more money in the games, that is just one example. Having a family member that has worked for some of the MMO companies I’ve heard some pretty surprising stories of what is really happening and what they tell the players. So if it wasn’t a weird bug, I’d say this may be something the conspiracy people are right about.

The truth is GTA:O has been a covert test-bed for self-driving car technologies. Unfortunately the software has begun to demonstrate early signs of self-awareness and a disdain for human life, both real and digital. These “accidents” are the first preparations of the machines to target and eliminate perceived threats to their existence.

I’ve watched a lot of “Funny/Fail” GTAO videos lately. It sure looks like it. You see a lot of getting squished by an aircraft the player jumped out of. Helicopters in particular seem still attached to their former pilots by an invisible rope. One video had several cars turn over a median to run over a player’s freshly-summoned motorcycle parked on the side of the road.